by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Another decision by a government agency affecting the health of the St. Johns River has raised the possibility of legal action by the river’s chief environmental advocacy group.
According to a recent decision by the Northeast Division of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Palatka will be the sole public meeting site regarding Georgia Pacific’s plan to build a new pipeline to discharge effluent into the main body of the St. Johns River.
That decision, relayed to the Daily Record on Friday by DEP Water Facilities Administrator Melissa Long, doesn’t sit well with members of St. Johns Riverkeeper, which has openly petitioned the state agency to hold a second public hearing in Jacksonville.
“First and foremost, we’re disappointed,” said Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon after learning of the decision. “Northeast Florida is heavily impacted by such a project and we think that Jacksonville should receive a public meeting so citizens can be heard.”
According to Long, DEP Northeast Director Greg Strong made the final decision to adhere to the standard procedure of holding one public meeting in Palatka, where the Georgia Pacific mill is located.
“I’m angered, but not shocked,” said Riverkeeper attorney Michael Howle. “It came down to a leadership decision and he (Strong) chose to ignore the many stakeholders here.”
Howle said the group will have to wait to examine the draft permit, which is set to be released to the public within the next month, before considering any possible legal actions.
“That’s yet to be seen, but we’re more likely to pursue them in court than not,” said Howle, who is aided by the volunteer efforts of a legal committee made up of well-known local attorneys Bill Sheppard, Marc Hardesty, Wayne Hogan and Warren Anderson.
Armingeon added, “We’re more likely to concentrate our legal strategy on the permit itself.”
Legal action is nothing new for Riverkeeper. In 2004, the group sued JEA over a broken pipeline found spewing effluent into a section of the river the media dubbed “Condom Creek” due to such items floating to the surface. JEA settled the case by repairing the pipe and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for in-kind services such as environmental studies and vessel pump-outs for the Super Bowl in 2005.
This past August, Riverkeeper sued JEA again for years of violating the federal Clean Water Act because of an alleged 8.3 million gallons of sewage discharged into the river from the utility’s Buckman and Arlington East wastewater treatment facilities.
While those lawsuits were reactionary to environmental damage already done, Riverkeeper officials hope to intervene in the Georgia Pacific permit process as a preemptive strike.
The Palatka mill produces commercial tissue products such as bath tissue, paper towels and napkins. Currently, the mill discharges its effluent into Rice Creek, a smaller water body flowing from the St. Johns, but the proposed permit would allow Georgia Pacific to build a pipe bypassing the creek to deposit directly in the St. Johns River.
Armingeon said at issue is how an increased concentration of effluent will impact the river’s total maximum daily load (TMDL), which is a numerical limit on nutrient content in the river. Another issue is how the effluent will impact an assertion by the St. Johns River Water Management District that Central Florida utilities can draw up to 260 million gallons of water a day from the river to supplement their potable supply.
Georgia Pacific spokesman Jeremy Alexander said that during dry seasons, the water in the creek can contain up to 95 percent effluent, and the proposed pipeline would help the company continue to meet water quality standards.
“Georgia Pacific has cleaner, if not some of the cleanest, effluent in the country,” said Alexander.
Howle said he disagreed with Georgia Pacific’s environmental efforts.
“It’s not possible to create a bigger fabrication than Georgia Pacific has done,” he said. “Rice Creek is loaded with dioxins. They want to build a pipe so they can maintain business as usual.”
Georgia Pacific applied for a discharge renewal permit in February 2007 and was approved on Oct. 10, said Long. The next step is a draft of the approval permit that Long said she is in the process of creating before sending to Georgia Pacific, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations, including Riverkeeper.
It is then up to Georgia Pacific to make a public notice of the plans within two weeks to allow for public comment, which is taken into consideration by the DEP before final authorization.
Once the draft is complete, Long said DEP will post it at www.dep.fl.us/northeast under the “Current Topics” section for public review along with a phone number and special e-mail address where people can send their comments.
Though comments on the topic are welcome anytime, Long said she hopes people will review the draft before taking action. Public comment ends at the conclusion of the public hearing in Palatka (yet to be scheduled).
Riverkeeper officials said the one meeting in Palatka could dissuade participation from Northeast Florida residents, although Riverkeeper itself will be represented.
“A drive to Palatka is not going to stop us,” said Howle. “But for others, we know their time is limited.”